Entity Framework 4.0, enutvärdering av ett ORMramverk

När man kombinerar ett objektorienterat programmeringsspråk och en relationsdatabas uppstår en del problem för utvecklare eftersom objektorienterade programmeringsspråk och relationsdatabaser har olika fokus, objektorienterade programmeringsspråk fokuserar på att avbilda verkliga objekt och relationsdatabaser fokuserar på data. De problem som uppstår kallas med ett samlingsnamn för object-relational mismatch. Det finns flertalet ramverk för att hantera dessa problem. Ett av dem är Entity Framework.Syftet med detta projekt var att utvärdera hur utvecklare tycker att Entity Framework fungerar för att lösa problematiken runt object-relational mismatch, hur det är för utvecklare att lära sig använda Entity Framework samt hur tillgången på inlärningsmaterial är.Under vår studie har vi lärt oss använda Entity Framework samtidigt som vi gjort en studie av tillgången på inlärningsmaterial. Vi har också byggt om en applikation så att den använder Entity Framework. Vi har jämfört den ombyggda applikationen med den gamla applikationen för att kunna se vilken skillnad som Entity Framework bidrog till.Vi kom fram till att Entity Framework hanterar object-relational mismatch på ett bra sätt som bland annat gör att utvecklingsprocessen kortas ner då inte lika mycket kod behöver skrivas. Utvecklare med tidigare kunskaper i .NET-programmering upplever att det är lätt att lära sig Entity Framework. Att det upplevs lätt att lära sig Entity Framework hänger förmodligen ihop med att tillgången på inlärningsmaterial är god.

Endometriosis, an unknown entity: the consumer`s perspective

This paper reports the findings of a consumer-driven investigation conducted by the Centre for Clinical Nursing Research at Epworth Hospital in conjunction with the Endometriosis Association (Victoria, Australia) aimed at identifying the information and support needs of women experiencing endometriosis. Women's experiences of endometriosis and laparoscopy were examined. A questionnaire was designed to explore women's experiences of, and informational need for, the four categories of: diagnosis of endometriosis, endometriosis, laparoscopy and managing at home. A total of 465 women who had a positive diagnosis of endometriosis, including patients at the Epworth Endometriosis Centre and members of the Endometriosis Association, were included. The data were analysed in terms of frequency of responses and themes that arose from the research. Five main themes consistently emerged from the overall analysis of the questionnaire; these included: lack of communication, no-one listens, the emotional turmoil, expressions of gratitude to the Endometriosis Association and being young and helpless. Also identified was a lack of understanding of endometriosis and laparoscopy, on behalf of both the patient and the practitioner, which has led to communication of misinformation, extended physical pain and emotional distress. Based on these findings, recommendations were made for education strategies to be focused towards increasing awareness of endometriosis and for information to be disseminated using the preferred printed format and to be made available from gynaecologists, hospitals and schools. Through consumer participation, the information obtained in this study is of benefit to all women who come in contact with endometriosis by (a) validating women's experiences of endometriosis and (b) identifying women's needs in relation to the disease.

Towards a market oriented approach: employer requirements and implications for undergraduate economics programs

The decline in enrolments in economics degrees and majors has been the focus of much concern in recent times. In 2001, two of the current researchers published a paper outlining a framework with which future investigation into this issue could be conducted. Essentially this paper argued that a market oriented approach, which takes into account the value students and employers place on economics studies may point the way to a solution to the problem. As a first step in developing such an approach it is necessary to determine what employers require of the economics graduates they hire. A survey was conducted in 2002. This paper presents the results of this survey and discusses some of the ramifications for the teaching of undergraduate economics.

On the production of randomly-oriented recrystallization nuclei for selective growth experiments

The ideal starting condition for selective growth experiments is one having a layer of randomly-oriented nuclei adjacent to a matrix with negligible orientational variation but sufficient stored energy to promote growth. In practice, cutting or deformation processes are used in an attempt to approximate these ideal conditions, but the degree to which this is achieved has not been rigorously quantified. In this work, Fe-3wt%Si single crystals were cut or deformed using six different processes. The variation in texture with distance from the cut or deformed surface was measured using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) in a field emission gun scanning electron microscope (FEG-SEM) in order to assess the ability of each process to create conditions suitable for selective growth experiments. While grooving with a machine tool produced the best spread of orientations at the cut surface, the suitability of this process is diminished by the presence of a differently-textured deformed layer between the cut surface and the single crystal matrix. Grinding produced a less ideal distribution of orientations at the cut surface, but the presence of these orientations in a very thin layer adjacent to the matrix makes this process preferable for preparing crystals for selective growth experiments, provided the results are corrected for the deviation in the distribution of nuclei orientations from a random distribution.

Emergence of the individual as an international juristic entity: enforcement of International Human Rights

In this article it is contended that state practice, as evidenced in the  declarations of the judiciary and the many treaties and conventions  guaranteeing human rights, reveals a consensus of opinion acknowledging the individual to be an international juristic entity. So extensive is this practice that it could be seen as marking the emergence of a new customary international norm; or at least a general principle of international law, yet to crystallise into a custom; acknowledging the individual as the beneficiary of international rights. This is important for individuals and minority groups because if they possess international rights independently of the State, enforcement of their rights will no longer depend on the interests of the State. Where the State is often the offender of human rights, international law will not effectively confer any real rights unless the individual is so recognised as an international juristic entity.

Robust parallel job scheduling infrastructure for service-oriented grid computing systems

Recent trends in grid computing development is moving towards a service-oriented architecture. With the momentum gaining for the service-oriented grid computing systems, the issue of deploying support for integrated scheduling and fault-tolerant approaches becomes paramount importance. To this end, we propose a scalable framework that loosely couples the dynamic job scheduling approach with the hybrid replications approach to schedule jobs efficiently while at the same time providing fault-tolerance. The novelty of the proposed framework is that it uses passive replication approach under high system load and active replication approach under low system loads. The switch between these two replication methods is also done dynamically and transparently.

Grid accounting service infrastructure for service-oriented grid computing systems

In this paper, we propose an architecture of accounting and payment services for service-oriented grid computing systems. The proposed accounting and payment services provide the mechanisms for service providers to be paid for authorized use of their resources. It supports the recording of usage data, secure storage of that data, analysis of that data for purposes of billing and so forth. It allows a variety of payment methods, it is scalable, secure, convenient, and reduce the overall cost of payment processing while taking into account requirements of Grid computing systems.

Agent-Oriented Data Curation in Bioinformatics

The practitioners of bioinformatics require increasing sophistication from their software tools to take into account the particular characteristics that make their domain complex. For example, there is a great variation of experience of researchers, from novices who would like guidance from experts in the best resources to use to experts that wish to take greater management control of the tools used in their experiments. Also, the range of available, and conflicting, data formats is growing and there is a desire to automate the many trivial manual stages of in-silico experiments. Agent-oriented software development is one approach to tackling the design of complex applications. In this paper, we argue that, in fact, agent-oriented development is a particularly well-suited approach to developing bioinformatics tools that take into account the wider domain characteristics. To illustrate this, we design a data curation tool, which manages the format of experimental data, extend it to better account for the extra requirements placed by the domain characteristics, and show how the characteristics lead to a system well suited to an agent-oriented view.

Agent-Oriented Data Curation in Bioinformatics

The practitioners of bioinformatics require increasing sophistication from their software tools to take into account the particular characteristics that make their domain complex. For example, there is a great variation of experience of researchers, from novices who would like guidance from experts in the best resources to use to experts that wish to take greater management control of the tools used in their experiments. Also, the range of available, and conflicting, data formats is growing and there is a desire to automate the many trivial manual stages of in-silico experiments. Agent-oriented software development is one approach to tackling the design of complex applications. In this paper, we argue that, in fact, agent-oriented development is a particularly well-suited approach to developing bioinformatics tools that take into account the wider domain characteristics. To illustrate this, we design a data curation tool, which manages the format of experimental data, extend it to better account for the extra requirements placed by the domain characteristics, and show how the characteristics lead to a system well suited to an agent-oriented view.

Designing Agent-Oriented Systems by Analysing Agent Interactions

We propose a preliminary methodology for agent-oriented software engineering based on the idea of agent interaction analysis. This approach uses interactions between undetermined agents as the primary component of analysis and design. Agents as a basis for software engineering are useful because they provide a powerful and intuitive abstraction which can increase the comprehensiblity of a complex design. The paper describes a process by which the designer can derive the interactions that can occur in a system satisfying the given requirements and use them to design the structure of an agent-based system, including the identification of the agents themselves. We suggest that this approach has the flexibility necessary to provide agent-oriented designs for open and complex applications, and has value for future maintenance and extension of these systems.

Security Issues in a SOA-based Provenance System

Recent work has begun exploring the characterization and utilization of provenance in systems based on the Service Oriented Architecture (such as Web Services and Grid based environments). One of the salient issues related to provenance use within any given system is its security. In a broad sense, security requirements arise within any data archival and retrieval system, however provenance presents unique requirements of its own. These requirements are additionally dependent on the architectural and environmental context that a provenance system operates in. We seek to analyze the security considerations pertaining to a Service Oriented Architecture based provenance system. Towards this end, we describe the components of such a system and illustrate the security considerations that arise within it. Concurrently, we outline possible approaches to address them.